Friday, March 14, 2014

Spring may be on its way, but it's beginning to feel a lot like the holidays with news of DC Comics's Fall 2014 trade paperback and hardcover collections. There are many, many of these, so I'm just going to list them alphabetically with commentary where applicable, but here's some highlights:

Nightwing: Bludhaven, the start of a new collection of the Chuck Dixon Nightwing series. Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus. Batman: Death of the Family Mask and Book Set (ew!). Absolute Batman Incorporated. Absolute Batman: Haunted Knight. A black-and-white reprint of Batman: The Long Halloween. Batman: Gordon of Gotham. A proper collection of Batman: Dark Night, Dark City. Secret Six Vol. 1: Villains United, the start of a new set of Secret Six collections. DC Zero Year and Five Years Later Omnibuses. More Mike Grell Green Arrow volumes, and more John Ostrander Martian Manhunter and Spectre volumes. Showcase Presents: Blue Beetle from the 1980s. A Gotham Sirens collection. A Flash (classic) Omnibus, and Flash and Teen Titans anniversary volumes. JLA Vol. 6 with Joe Kelly material. And more, and more.

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All of this information is subject to change, so if you see something that doesn't quite please you, possibly it'll be fixed before publication.

Collects the entire Batman, Inc. saga -- pre-Flashpoint, post-Flashpoint, the works. Maybe I'm naive but I'm surprised to see this so quickly after the series wrapped (though, probably best that DC struck while interest in this series is still high). Given how Batman, Inc. ultimately didn't affect the DCU that much, I'm a little sorry I didn't wait for this volume.

Not only does this collect a couple of Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale Batman specials that ultimately inspired Long Halloween and Dark Victory (and which I've enjoyed for a while), this also includes Loeb and Sale's Catwoman: When in Rome miniseries. As both a prelude and bookend to Long Halloween and Dark Victory, I'm thinking this would look good on my shelf.

In my opinion, one of the coolest things on this list is this Batman Noir: Long Halloween collection, which reprints the Long Halloween series in black and white. It's a great story to start, and reading it in black and white on nice paper sounds like a great experience.

Collects issues #25-31. There's still some uncollected issues from between the end of Death of the Family and the beginning of Zero Year, but I'm still confident those will be collected somewhere eventually.

Written by Peter Milligan with art by Kieron Dwyer, the popular "Dark Night, Dark City" story inspired Grant Morrison's Batman RIP stories. We saw the three-part story (Batman #452-454) in a DC Comics Presents volume a couple years back, but now it's getting a proper collection alongside five Detective Comics issues, #629-633, also by Milligan.

I understood the Batman: Night of the Owls book and mask set -- the owls wore masks, the mask was a pretty simple design, etc. But I can't even imagine what the mask of the Joker's mutilated face is going to look like, and I can't imagine wanting to put that on my own face, unless you're reenacting that Suicide Squad scene with Deadshot and Harley Quinn. Enjoy, folks.

Collects a couple of Commissioner Gordon-focused miniseries from the late 1990s: Batman: Gordon of Gotham, Batman: GCPD, and Batman: Gordon's Law, written by Dennis O'Neil and Chuck Dixon. I think we can credit a certain upcoming show for this one.

Two new omnibuses on their way: one collects the upcoming September 2014 Five Years Later event (following Villains Month, Zero Month, and so on); the other collects the issue #25 tie-ins to Batman's Zero Year, including Action Comics, Flash, and etc.

In time for the Flash's 75th anniversary, the omnibus collects Showcase #4, 8, 13, and 14 and Flash #105-132, going along with the classic Green Lantern Omnibus released not too long ago (not a Flash by Waid omnibus, sorry). No word yet on the contents of the 75 Years volume.

Collecting the various Forever Evil miniseries. The Arkham War book includes Batman #23.4: Bane, Detective Comics #23.3: Scarecrow, and Batman and Robin #23.1: Two-Face, along with the miniseries. Rogues Rebellion includes the Flash villain issues #23.1: Grodd and 23.3: Rogues (Flash #23.2: Reverse-Flash is in the Flash Vol. 4: Reverse collection).

This is a strange one, but Paul Dini, Tony Bedard, and Guillem March's Gotham City Sirens collection gets a new collection of issues #1-13. I think Final Crisis, Flashpoint, etc. overshadowed it, but at some point there was an interesting corner of the Bat-verse between Sirens, Detective Comics, and Streets of Gotham; if DC was going to reprint all of those, I might take a look.

You knew this would come around one of these days -- beginning an omnibus collection set of Geoff Johns's Green Lantern work. This one appears to collect Rebirth and Green Lantern issues #1-25, Green Lantern Corps #1-5, and some extras and specials -- so basically the beginning up through Sinestro Corps War. I know this description omits the Green Lantern Corps issues of Sinestro Corps War; let's wait and see if those don't end up in there after all.

The paperback JLA collections continue, with what I thought was a superlative run on JLA by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke. This volume collects issues #61-76, so from the beginning of Kelly's run through "The Obsidian Age"; there's still fifteen or so issues for a follow-up volume, maybe also with some JL Elite material.

Finishes up Geoff Johns's run on JSA with issues #26-81. Indeed this does not collect the Paul Levitz issues, #82-87, that closed out the series, but I wouldn't say those were that notable; DC could maybe collect those, Johns's Justice Society of America series that followed, JSA All-Stars, and JSA Presents, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Thank you, thank you, thank you a second time for buying enough copies of the first John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake Martian Manhunter collection that DC has now solicited a second one. Collects issues #10-17 -- pre-order as soon as you can.

This collects DC Comics Presents #23 and New Teen Titans #1-8. Because this is likely being published solely because of the 50th anniversary celebration (see farther down), I wouldn't get too excited that this is going to lead to a string of "complete" Titans trades, much as I might like that.

The collection that will probably make most of our regular readers the most happy, it's a new set of Nightwing collections; this one collects the post-Prodigal miniseries by Dennis O'Neil, and then the first eight issues of Chuck Dixon's Nightwing series. I would love, love, love to see this collection series continue and fill in the big gap of uncollected Nightwing material -- this is another one to pre-order.

Collects the Green Lantern/Red Lantern #28 flipbook, Red Lanterns #27 and #29-31, and also Supergirl #28-30. The fifth Supergirl collection only inclues issues up to #25, so it remains to be seen if Supergirl Vol. 6 will duplicate some of these contents or not.

It took me a while to get in to Gail Simone's Secret Six, but by the end I absolutely loved it. I don't think most realize how psychologically complex (and socially progressive) the series is, and I've yet to see something else like it from DC since. This new collection of trades under the Secret Six banner, collecting the Infinite Crisis/Villains United specials to start, shows the series hasn't been forgotten by DC, either.

Thank you, thank you, thank you a third time for picking up the first new John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake Spectre collection; this is another one I've wanted to see collected for a while. The third volume includes issues #13-22, including Phantom Stranger, Etrigan the Demon, John Constantine, Eclipso, and Superman.

This is an odd one, but taken from the same era as the recent Superman: Dark Knight Over Metropolis collection, so I'm glad to see it coming out. It collects Superman stories from Action Comics Weekly #601-641, and then what seems to be one or two parts of "The Sinbad Contract" storyline that saw Superman and Lex Luthor vying over a Middle Eastern boy with super-powers (his ethnicity wasn't a major factor in the story, but later Chris Roberson would want to use Sinbad in Superman: Grounded but the issue was yanked by DC). I'm pretty sure the tie in all of this is that they're all written by Roger Stern and drawn by classic Superman artist Curt Swan.

Want to take a bet on whether the trade of "The Movement" gets cancelled like "Green Team" did? I mean I doubt that DC would want to raise Gail Simone's ire again, but you never know when it comes to trades.

I have all the Nightwing trades currently out. It would be nice to get the missed issues 61-100 compiled in some fashion even though I own the issues because I thought they would never be compiled but.... whatever... Love Dick Grayson sooooo gonna buy it.

I was excited about the new Nightwing collections at first, but the more I thought about it, the more skeptical I was that they'll get all the way to issue #61 -- these things tend to peter out after a couple of volumes. We'll know in a couple years, I guess ..

One thing of note is that the info for the Larfleeze Vol 2 trade states that its the conclusion of the series. So we know the book will actually end with #12. But as much as I also wish Showcase Blue Beetle was in color, it'll look good standing next to my Showcase Booster Gold.

I would be extremely surprised if the Batman Zero Year: Dark City collection remains as listed. Currently the trade includes all the parts of the Dark City part of Zero Year (25-27, 29) as well as a Batman Eternal flash forward (28) and the first two issues of Savage City (30-31). With only two issues remaining after these for Savage City, as well as Zero Year as a whole, it seems like an odd point to end the book. Similarly, I would have expected DC would hold off on issue 28 to place it into the right point of the Batman Eternal collections.

As I see it, DC have two options. They could wait and collect all of Dark City and Savage City together (25-27, 29-33), however this would create a large 8 issue trade (with 29 and most likely 33 being over sized issues) and DC would miss out on the extra payday of another Snyder/ Capullo Zero Year Batman collection. Or they could trim the half finished stories and collect just Dark City (25-27, 29), but this would make a very small trade, even with 29 being oversized and the back ups being collected as well. The same problem will also be present when they collect Savage City for volume 6.

With the first collection of Zero Year collected 5 issues (1 oversized) and an annual, which hits the magic number of 6 for a collection. There are a few places DC could get more issues to bulk out these volumes, such as the missing issues between Death of the Family and Zero Year, or villains month issues, or some of the tie ins from other series. However, these issues are only tangentially related (or not related at all) to Dark City.

DC has a problem here, and I can say I won't be happy with the collection listed as it is now, nor if the trades are only 4 issues each. My vote at the moment would be to see them bulk out the Dark City volume with the Riddler villains month issues once he plays a big role in Dark City. A 5 issue trade with backups would be good. Then we could collect Savage City with issues 18-20 to make a 7 issue trade with oversized issue and back ups.

As far as I know, Zero Year will run for a total of 11 issues, not 12. My guess is that the content listing was written before issue #28 (which was originally going to be the conclusion to the "Dark City" mini arc) became a flashforward tale. Maybe this volume will collect issues #25-27 and #29-32 instead.

I stand corrected: according to the June solicitations, Batman #32 is only the penultimate chapter. That means vol. 5 should actually collect issues #25-27 and #29-33, unless they intend to postpone the "Savage City" mini arc to the next volume.

As for Zero Year, I'm not sure how they should do Vol 5 and 6. As Wilson1989 said, I'm almost sure DC won't fit Dark City and Savage City into one book for obvious reasons. So, my best guess is they'll end up fitting in #18-#20 and #28 somewhere among these books.

I'm gonna see this play out and get the complete Zero Year collection (along with Owls collection). I''m patient enough.

What I really want though is a Batman - Hidden Years or something collection that collects Man who Laughs, The Monster Men and the Mad Monk. I'm putting off buying the individual collections mainly cause MWL has a GL story that doesn't belong there and the above three have a continuous storyline that would work in a single book.

As for the other books I may collect:1. Earth 2 Vol 4It's Tom Taylor! Must-buy for me.2. Forever EvilFE has read much better as a graphic novel and it's a very good follow-up for my Trinity War collection!3. Rogues RebellionOne of two tie-ins that actually worked for me. Great humor and the Rogues are great again!4. JL Vol 5Johns writing FE and this was a boon as both intersect quite well and JL Vol 5 is the perfect companion book for the main event.5. Green Arrow Vol 5Jeff Lemiere is killing it! With me in full Arrow mode right now and GA vol 4 already on the way, this is a must-buy.

I'm very happy about the new Nightwing TPB, and I hope the next volumes will collect the series not only up to the end of Dixon's run, but also Grayson's. I'm also excited about JLA vol. 6 because Kelly's run is quite underrated, and vol. 7 should include two issues that have never been collected before.

As for Absolute Batman Incorporated, I really wasn't looking to double-dip since I just got the final standard-sized HC, but in a recent interview Burnham talked about the possibility that he'd redraw the pages that were originally pencilled by fill-in artists. If that happens, I may change my mind.

And the first Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus is just about what I expected it would be, except it will include the Green Lantern Corps: Recharge mini (which Johns co-wrote) instead of the GLC chapters of the Sinestro Corps War crossover, which I don't think will hurt the reading experience.

I'd be surprised if it was two volumes; I think "Vol. 1" just reflects a New 52 collections naming convention -- Sword of Sorcery, GI Combat, Mr. Terrific, etc., etc., were all Vol. 1s even though there wasn't a Vol. 2.

I'm very glad to see that JSA Omibus Vol. 2 will include issues from 26-81, however I can't but feel a little disappointing that The Next Age, Thy Kingdom Come 1, 2, 3, and Black Adam are not to be collected. Or this could be material for a third shorter volume?

Well, just my opinion. Anything that gets you into good books is good; for me, I felt Thy Kingdom Come rambled and lost focus a bit by the end (see my review of Vol. 3), but I also admired what a long and ambitious story it was. IMHO the second series didn't get up to the level of JSA.

Already pre-ordered Arkham Asylum, Forever Evil: Blight and Rogues Rebellion, Batman Adventures and Gotham City Sirens. Still waiting for the Green Lantern Omnibus, Sandman, Secret Six and New Frontier to become available.

I'm still unsure whether I should get the last Harley Quinn trade. Would anyone recommend it?

I'm looking forward to picking up Forever Evil, Rogue's Rebellion, Justice League 5, Justice League of America 2, Justice League 3000, The Flash, Green Arrow, Red Hood and Teen Titans. That's quite a few trades now that I think of it.

To the best of my knowledge and memory, the Sinbad issues are by William Messner Loebs. Maybe the goal is to create a comprehensive series of Superman trades by working in tandem with the Man of Steel trades? The 8th Man of Steel trade does stop at Action 600, just before Action Weekly. Just wondering.

The Deathblow TPB will collect Darker Image #1 and Deathblow #1-12, just like the recent HC. And in addition to the Villains United mini and the Infinite Crisis special, the new Secret Six vol. 1 TPB will include the 6-issue mini with art by Brad Walker that preceded the ongoing series.

Just saw the entire fall 2014/spring 2015 solicits, and I'm pleasantly surprised by a few which you did not mention. Not much love?

Twilight - I'm sure this mini by Chaykin & Garcia Lopez gets the reprint only due to the Garcia Lopez involvement, but works for me.

Tales of the Batman by Len Wein - I'm happy that more writer based collections are coming out, if only to work in favour of more complete storylines. And since I've already got 'Strange Apparitions' in paperback, and skipped the Marshall Rogers volume, this puts out the last one or two issues drawn by Rogers and written by Wein. Besides, the volume reprints one of my favourite Batman stories, 'Haven', along with 'Untold Legend of the Batman'.

Hellblazer Vol 9 and 10 - We're finally treading major uncollected territory ever. I have no idea why none of Paul Jenkins' Hellblazer issues have been collected, as I've heard only good things, and finally I will find out.

Enigma - If I would have to select only three books/series that I would be allowed to keep, this would come in at #1 (the other two being the uncollected Blackhawk run by Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle, and Sandman). After years of looking for it (currently out of print) and pestering Dan DiDio multiple times, it arrives maybe a year after I ordered the single issues via eBay. I shall still buy and support the book, if only to see further collections of work by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo.

I'm excited they're reprinting Nightwing. I have all of the original books so I probably won't start collecting right off the bat, but if they manage to collect the issues from #60-100 that went uncollected I'll definitely be picking them up.

I'm also looking forward to Superman The Power Within. I do have the single issues of the Sinbad Contract storyline, but I have nothing of Action Comics Weekly. I wish they would reprint the Green Lantern storyline from ACW where Star Sapphire kills Katma Tui as well.

So there's a bunch on GLC left out (#1-13) not included, and half of the Sinestro Corps War storyline left out.

I know what you think. Your thinking "it says Geoff Johns in the title. Why would they include the GLC issues??".

I would loooooove them to take out the Geoff Johns of the tittle (like they did with JSA Omnibus) and include the entire run of GL and GLC from Rebirth on to insure a better reading experience. At the very least, include (or exclude) the SCW half so the reading is not as messy as it is with the current content.

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